Best Middle Schools in California

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Find the best California middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish California test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the CAST and Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores by the California Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 9, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 2760)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
2242	Victory Elementary	Public	K-8	1838 West Rose St.	Stockton	95203	San Joaquin County	Stockton Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(209) 933-7310	484	20	23.9	85.5%	31 (6.4%)	46 (9.5%)	348 (71.9%)	19 (3.9%)	5 (1.0%)	4 (0.8%)	31 (6.4%)	$14,982			$3,588			$11,394	19.7	16.1	2436	194		063801006437
2243	Hillview Junior High	Public	6-8	333 Yosemite Dr.	Pittsburg	94565	Contra Costa County	Pittsburg Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 473-2380	893	42	21.5	81.2%	41 (4.6%)	144 (16.1%)	561 (62.8%)	77 (8.6%)	3 (0.3%)	14 (1.6%)	53 (5.9%)	$18,086			$1,725			$16,361	19.6	20.5	2243			063060004749
2244	City of Angels	Public, Alternative	K-12	221 South Eastman Ave.	Los Angeles	90063	Los Angeles County	Los Angeles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(323) 415-8350	1,058	49	21.4	87.2%	95 (9.0%)	110 (10.4%)	781 (73.8%)	26 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	42 (4.0%)	$17,745			$2,934			$14,811	19.5	21.1	2215	29		062271007118
2245	Brookfield Engineering Science Technology Academy	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	1704 Cape Horn	Julian	92036	San Diego County	Brookfield Engineering Science Technology Academy District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(833) 619-2378	693	24	28.7	62.8%	386 (55.7%)	13 (1.9%)	270 (39.0%)	17 (2.5%)	4 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	$14,494			$1,269			$13,225	19.5	9.3	2689	444		060250114440
2246	Crystal Middle	Public	6-8	400 Whispering Bay Ln.	Suisun City	94585	Solano County	Fairfield-Suisun Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(707) 435-5800	774	34	22.7	78.0%	73 (9.4%)	141 (18.2%)	373 (48.2%)	100 (12.9%)	1 (0.1%)	12 (1.6%)	74 (9.6%)	$16,167			$1,560			$14,607	19.5	26.3	1982	264		061336007282
2247	Chester Junior/Senior High	Public	7-12	612 First St.	Chester	96020	Plumas County	Plumas Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(530) 258-2126	124	12	10.1	37.1%	88 (71.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (12.9%)	2 (1.6%)	2 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (12.9%)	$23,758			$1,563			$22,195	19.5	20.2	2255	8		063117004819
2248	Felix J. Appleby Elementary	Public	K-8	10321 Vernon Ave.	Blythe	92225	Riverside County	Palo Verde Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 922-7174	617	25	24.6	86.1%	86 (13.9%)	41 (6.6%)	468 (75.9%)	2 (0.3%)	4 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (2.6%)	$19,221			$3,561			$15,660	19.5	26.8	1962	286		062964004599
2249	Olive Grove Charter - Orcutt/Santa Maria	Public, Virtual, Charter, Alternative	K-12	5075 Bradley Rd.	Orcutt	93455	Santa Barbara County	Olive Grove Charter - Orcutt/Santa Maria District	Yes	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(805) 623-1111	153	7	23.3	62.1%	44 (28.8%)	1 (0.7%)	96 (62.7%)	2 (1.3%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (5.9%)	$16,642			$2,364			$14,278	19.4	18.4	2321	72		060204214265
2250	Muwekma Ohlone Middle	Public	6-8	850 North Second St.	San Jose	95112	Santa Clara County	San Jose Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(408) 535-6267	587	33	17.9	68.7%	29 (4.9%)	4 (0.7%)	501 (85.3%)	33 (5.6%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	17 (2.9%)	$21,743			$1,303			$20,440	19.4	20.4	2247	3		063459005731
2251	Needles Middle	Public	6-8	720 Bailey Ave.	Needles	92363	San Bernardino County	Needles Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 326-3894	196	11	17.3	83.2%	82 (41.8%)	3 (1.5%)	72 (36.7%)	1 (0.5%)	22 (11.2%)	1 (0.5%)	15 (7.7%)	$13,870			$493			$13,377	19.4	25.3	2019	232		062676009951

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics, CAST Science test scores released by the California Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 9, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the California Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education.